So a Reverend wrote in to the Providence Journal decrying a freedom from religion as totalitarian (chillingly so!)

I wrote back, in another edition of Dear God it’s What Rachel Thinks

Reverend:

blah … blah blah blah. There is no freedom from religion.

DGIWRT:

With all due respect to the Rev. Roman R Manchester, his interpretation of the First Amendment is incorrect. There is, in fact, a freedom from religion. As the Rev. aptly quoted, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This does mean that “Congress cannot regulate religious establishments,” but also that it can make no law that regulates the rights or lives of others based on religion. If the government “Shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” it cannot establish a law that affects me based on religion, such as allowing school prayer, preventing access to birth control, and prohibiting gay marriage.

You might respond that not having school prayer, distributing birth control, and legalizing gay marriage infringes on your right regarding “…The free exercise thereof (religion),” because it conflicts with your religious beliefs. But this right is a personal right, a passive right. It is the right for you to believe and express your religion on your own time in your own home or chosen place of worship. It is not, nor has it ever been, the right to enforce those beliefs on others or society as a whole. What other people do does not limit your ability to personally exercise your religion. Freedom of religion can only stand when Freedom from religion stands with it.